Wholesale change?
5 April 2019
A fuller write up for the store to follow; but this Jack's, in Rawtenstall sits inside a former superstore and ticks all the boxes for the reason as to why Jack's came to being in the first place.
Firstly, Lidl are over the road, secondly B&M are next to them. Thirdly the shell of Rawtenstall came in at 35k sq.ft which is more than a fair sized superstore.
I must admit the store not reopening bypassed me entirely and the length of time that the store was closed perhaps indicated that something bigger was occurring. (3 months closure all in).
The major differences with this store are that it contains a number of new elements, many of which have not been seen in Jack's so far. Indeed there is more than a hint of the Booker in the store itself in terms of layouts with a bulk buy deal also available.
The main point of interest was also that the range is bigger but there were products that were more Booker focused, giant car cleaning drums, WIGIG's were given lots of space and some deals were striking - Lazy Spa at £200 for example was notable.
The key message is buy more, save more which is overlaid alongside the core Jack's prices.
In this case; bulk buys - IE a small saving on Persil but the larger pack is good value (CC Booker for the range) and also Cheerios were a stunning deal - 89p when buying 3.
However there were some that were less impactful, Philadelphia (a product that is often bought on deal somewhere thus the price is hard to gauge) offered a mere 4p saving if multiples were bought (3 onwards).
Thus the deal wasn't all that, however to showcase this new way of shopping with bulk buys and lower prices. So it makes sense. Perhaps.
Although the reality is that bulk buys should be worthwhile, easy to understand and ideally; opportunities to buy in round cases to simplify the operation (IE case size 6 = per pack).
Skips were a better price for example but again the case rounding wasn't quite right.
Key strapline is buy more, save more with signage displayed overhead to drive the message home for customers.
There are hints of cash / carry all over; very Booker in it's approach, especially on ends with the backlit signage on the plywood display.
Their drinks offer was in the racking style shelving as depicted above with some bulk buys available too.
Large deals on packs were noted across the board, especially in household where the customer will not be surprised to see pack sizes that would last until 2020, at least.
50p off per pack if you bought 3 of these washing tablet packs...
So in terms of the rollout; hard to see Jack's getting many more stores that are as big as this, but there is scope to drop this hybrid offering in to the larger Extra stores for example and repurpose some space that is otherwise entirely under used.
WIGIG's are important to drive footfall, especially with the cash/carry offering. These were opening day deals so clearly better than typical, however it feels important to do this ongoing and be different - especially in this store.
The core range is Jack's and whilst there are more brands around, the Jack's discount offer is featured throughout - interestingly less British signage though - perhaps to align with the wider branded range.
Lots of efficiency measures were noted; the full cases of product that was merchandised above was notable, equally on the ambient shelves; full cases were next to the products too - all reducing that cost of goods sold metric that is so vital for these operations.
Produce is the only weaker point I would argue, existing chillers are used but the stacks of blue chep pallets gives it a look that isn't necessary to be as 'downmarket' and more could have been done here perhaps.
Larger packs were noted in Produce and the expectation will be that these packs change based on seasonality, events etc. Also notable was the retention of the cigarette kiosk and customer service desk, pharmacy and petrol station - all of which are Tesco branded.
There is also a large Costa Coffee too, so interesting times ahead for this particular store in the chain - all eyes on possibility of rolling in to larger Tesco stores and having some 'fun' with this store around spot deals and other elements which all feel perfectly achievable.
From the Grocery Insight newsletter archive, first sent to subscribers on 5 April 2019. Steve now writes at read.groceryinsight.com. See also the blog archive and briefings.